Physician assistant education program director attrition and consideration to leave.

Background: This study explores factors related to physician assistant (PA) education program directors' (PD) consideration to leave their leadership role. This is important to better understand, with the need for additional PA education PDs as the number of PA programs grows in addition to current PA program leaders considering leaving their PD role.

Methods: Data from the 2019 Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA) Faculty and Directors Survey were used to analyze factors related to consideration for leaving the PD position.

Implications of Entrustable Professional Activities for Motivation and Learning.

Introduction: This study sought to explore the experience of entrustable professional activity-based assessment and its effect on self-determination, a well-supported measure of motivation. The goal was to understand EPA-based assessment's implications for student motivation, learning, and wellbeing.

Methods: A qualitative case study design was utilized through a standardized simulation activity with EPA-based assessment.

Beyond the Clinic: Physician Assistant Student Perspectives on Careers in Physician Assistant Education.

Purpose: Professional training programs for physician assistants (PAs) have been rapidly expanding. The profession therefore needs to develop a sufficiently robust teaching workforce.

Methods: This study surveyed current PA students from all Physician Assistant Education Association member programs to ascertain their level of interest in and understanding of careers in PA education, including faculty and precepting roles.

Accreditation and implications of clinical postgraduate PA training programs.

No consensus definition exists for postgraduate physician assistant (PA) training. This report from the AAPA Task Force on Accreditation of Postgraduate PA Training Programs describes the types of clinical training programs and their effects on hiring and compensation of PAs. Although completing a postgraduate program appears to have no effect on compensation, PAs who complete these programs may be favored in the hiring process and frequently report greater confidence in their skills.

Postconcussive syndrome in a high school athlete.

This article describes an adolescent female who had postconcussive symptoms for more than 2 years after sustaining two concussive injuries without complete recovery between them. The case illustrates the significant effect of mild traumatic brain injury and the need for appropriate evaluation and management.

An update on primary care management of knee osteoarthritis.

Primary care providers often make the initial diagnosis and play an important role in the effective management of knee osteoarthritis. This article reviews new treatment guidelines from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and discusses when to refer patients to specialists.

Distribution of vasoactive intestinal peptide- and peptide histidine isoleucine amide-like immunoreactive neurons and fibers in the thoracic spinal cord of the rat.

The distributions of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)- and peptide histidine isoleucine amide (PHI)-immunoreactivities (IR) in the thoracic spinal cord of the rat are described. VIP- and PHI-IR were present in cells and fibers in the lateral spinal nucleus, lamina VII, nucleus proprius, substantia gelatinosa, intermediolateral cell column, and the area around the central canal. The functions of these peptides in the thoracic spinal cord are not known; however, their locations suggest that they are involved in sensory and autonomic functions, among others.

Evidence that some preganglionic sympathetic neurons in the rat contain vasoactive intestinal peptide- or peptide histidine isoleucine amide-like immunoreactivities.

Physiological studies have established that preganglionic sympathetic nerve fibers innervating the rat superior cervical ganglion release a second transmitter, in addition to acetylcholine. Based on pharmacological and histochemical investigations, possible candidates for this non-cholinergic neurotransmitter include vasoactive intestinal peptide and peptide histidine isoleucine amide. For example, previous immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated that antisera raised against both of these peptides stain neural processes in the rat preganglionic cervical sympathetic trunk and in the superior cervical ganglion.

Evidence for co-existence of thyrotropin-releasing hormone, substance P and serotonin in ventral medullary neurons that project to the intermediolateral cell column in the rat.

The present study was conducted to determine if substance P-, thyrotropin-releasing hormone- and/or serotonin-immunoreactivities coexist in ventral medullary neurons that project to the intermediolateral cell column in the rat. Neurons that projected to the intermediolateral cell column were identified by the presence of retrogradely transported rhodamine bead-labeled microspheres in the cell body after an injection of the microspheres into the intermediolateral cell column of the third thoracic spinal cord segment. Co-existence was determined by using a combination of dual color immunohistochemistry and serial 4-microns sections that were immunostained with different antibodies.

Enkephalin-immunoreactive neuronal projections from the medulla oblongata to the intermediolateral cell column: relationship to substance P-immunoreactive neurons.

The present study investigated the ventral medullary distribution of enkephalin-immunoreactive neurons that project to the intermediolateral cell column and the relationship of these neurons to substance P-immunoreactive neurons. Neurons that projected to the intermediolateral cell column were identified by the presence of rhodamine-labeled microspheres within the neuronal cell body after an injection of the microspheres into the intermediolateral cell column of the third thoracic spinal cord segment. Enkephalin- and substance P-immunoreactivities were identified by dual-color immunohisto-chemistry.

Localization of vasoactive intestinal peptide- and peptide histidine isoleucine amide-like immunoreactivities in the rat superior cervical ganglion and its nerve trunks.

Electrical stimulation of the preganglionic cervical sympathetic trunk causes an increase in dopa synthesis in the postganglionic neurons in the superior cervical ganglion (SCG). This transsynaptic biochemical effect can be blocked only partially by cholinergic antagonists, suggesting the involvement of a noncholinergic preganglionic sympathetic neurotransmitter(s). A survey of a large number of possible candidates for this neurotransmitter revealed that, in addition to cholinergic agonists, only a small group of peptides (all members of the secretin-glucagon family) stimulated dopa synthesis in the SCG.

Substance P binding sites in the nucleus tractus solitarius of the cat.

Substance P binding sites in the nucleus tractus solitarius were visualized with receptor autoradiography using Bolton-Hunter [125I]substance P. Substance P binding sites were found to have distinct patterns within the cat nucleus tractus solitarius. The majority of substance P binding sites were present in the medial, intermediate and the peripheral rim of the parvocellular subdivisions.

Somatostatin mRNA: regional variation in hybridization densities in individual neurons.

Somatostatin mRNA is detected by in situ hybridization of 35S-labeled single-stranded cDNA probes to coronal sections of the rat brain that include the periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Features supporting hybridization specificity include its anatomic distribution, the results of studies using multiple cDNA probes, RNAase experiments, competition studies, and correlations with patterns of somatostatin peptide immunostaining in adjacent sections. The hybridization densities vary strikingly from region to region, with highest densities in the periventricular nucleus and more modest levels in areas such as the cerebral cortex and the striatum.

Coexistence of enkephalin and dynorphin immunoreactivities in neurons in the dorsal gray commissure of the sixth lumbar and first sacral spinal cord segments in rat.

The dorsal gray commissure (DGC) of the sixth lumbar (L6) and first sacral (S1) spinal cord segments in the rat has been shown to contain several different peptides, including enkephalin (ENK) and dynorphin (DYN). The present study was conducted to determine if DYN and ENK immunoreactivities coexist in neurons in the DGC in L6 and S1. Coexistence was determined using the elution/restaining technique of Tramu in which sections were stained first with anti-DYN then with anti-ENK after elution of the DYN antiserum.

An antiserum to locust adipokinetic hormone reveals a novel peptidergic system in the rat central nervous system.

Using an antiserum to locust adipokinetic hormone I, a novel peptidergic system was identified in the rat central nervous system. Immunoreactive fibers were present in the hypothalamic median eminence and periventricular nucleus and the spinal cord dorsal horn, intermediolateral cell column and sacral parasympathetic nucleus. Immunoreactive cells were present in the dorsal gray commissure of lumbosacral spinal cord, the hypothalamic periventricular nucleus and cerebral cortex.

Distribution of neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity and its relationship to FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity in the sixth lumbar and first sacral spinal cord segments of the rat.

The present study was aimed at describing the distribution of neuropeptide Y (NPY)-like immunoreactivity in the sixth lumbar (L6) and first sacral segments (S1) of the rat spinal cord, comparing this distribution to that of FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity and determining whether NPY- and FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivities are present in the same neurons in the dorsal gray commissure (DGC) in L6 and S1 of the rat spinal cord. For distribution studies tissue from colchicine-treated animals was processed according to the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique using anti-NPY as the primary antiserum. For co-localization studies serial 5-micron sections were processed for immunofluorescence.

Distribution of FMRF-NH2-like immunoreactivity in rat and cat area postrema.

The distribution of FMRF-NH2-like immunoreactivity, visualized with immunohistochemical techniques, was plotted in a range from very dense to none. The rat area postrema had differential immunostaining with the greatest amounts occurring at its ventral and ventrolateral borders by the nucleus of the solitary tract. Immunoreactive cell bodies were located mainly in this region.

The immunohistochemical localization of nine peptides in the sacral parasympathetic nucleus and the dorsal gray commissure in rat spinal cord.

The sixth lumbar and first sacral spinal cord segments in the rat contain parasympathetic preganglionic neurons which innervate the pelvic viscera. There have been few studies, however, which have specifically considered the distribution of putative peptide neurotransmitters in these cord segments. The present paper describes and compares the immunohistochemical distribution of dynorphin (1-8)-, enkephalin-, somatostatin-, cholecystokinin octapeptide-, avian pancreatic polypeptide-, FMRF-NH2-, neurotensin-, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-like immunoreactivities in the dorsal gray commissure and sacral parasympathetic nucleus of the sixth lumbar and first sacral spinal cord segments in colchicine-treated rats.

Phe-met-arg-phe-amide (FMRF-NH2) inhibits insulin and somatostatin secretion and anti-FMRF-NH2 sera detects pancreatic polypeptide cells in the rat islet.

FMRF-NH2-like immunoreactivity was localized in the pancreatic polypeptide containing cells of the rat islet. FMRF-NH2 was investigated with regard to its effect on insulin, somatostatin and glucagon secretion from the isolated perfused rat pancreas. FMRF-NH2 (1 microM) significantly inhibited glucose stimulated (300 mg/dl) insulin release (p less than 0.